President Vladimir Putin warned today that Russia was considering withdrawal from a major cold war arms treaty restricting intermediate range nuclear missiles unless it is expanded to include other states.

Mr Putin said that Moscow is planning to dump the intermediate range nuclear forces treaty (INF) - signed in a landmark deal between the US and Soviet Union in 1987 - unless countries like China are included in its provisions.

His comments came just before talks in Moscow today between the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, with Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the defence minister, Anatoly Serdyukov.

Mr Putin also repeated his opposition to the Bush administrations plans to site elements of its missile defence shield in central Europe. The project threatened the US and Russia's strategic relationship, he suggested.

'We need other international participants to assume the same obligations which have been assumed by the Russian Federation and the US,' said Mr Putin, who met Ms Rice and Mr Gates at his leafy presidential dacha just outside Moscow.

'If we are unable to attain such a goal ... it will be difficult for us to keep within the framework of the treaty in a situation where other countries do develop such weapons systems, and among those are countries in our near vicinity,' he said.

Mr Putin appeared to be referring to the INF treaty - a major cold war agreement signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan. Under it, both sides agreed to scrap their arsenals of intermediate range nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles.

Russian defence experts said today that the Kremlin had been unhappy for some time about the treaty because of concerns over the growing mid-range nuclear arsenals of its immediate neighbours such as China, Pakistan and India. Iran is also developing a medium-range missile programme.

The treaty currently only applies to the US and Russia - as well as to the former Soviet republics of Ukraine and Belarus. It was widely regarded as being highly disadvantageous to the Soviet Union as it did not include the US's naval nuclear cruise missiles or the nuclear arsenals of Britain or France.

"Russia's nuclear arsenal is still mainly a legacy of the Soviet Union. Its platforms are ageing. Russia feels more and more vulnerable not only from the nuclear forces of the US but from other threats as well," Yevgeny Miasnikov, a senior research scientist at the Centre for Arms Control, Energy and Environment Studies in Moscow told the Guardian. "This move fits into Russia's policy towards arms treaties these days."

Since denouncing the US during a memorable speech in Munich earlier this year, Mr Putin has withdrawn from the conventional arms forces in Europe treaty and resumed long-range patrols by Russia's strategic nuclear bombers - prompting Nato aircraft to scramble in response. Russia has also claimed a giant if symbolic chunk of the Arctic.

Today Mr Putin urged Washington not to rush ahead with its plans to locate elements of a planned missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia says the shield is a threat to its security and wrecks Europe's strategic balance.

"We hope that in the process of such complex and multifaceted talks, you will not be forcing forward your relations with the eastern European countries," he said.

Ms Rice and Mr Gates spoke to Mr Putin before starting "two-plus-two" talks with their Russian counterparts aimed at airing differences over the missile shield, but which are also expected to touch on disagreements over Iran.

Mr Putin, who does not support western calls for a new round of UN sanctions on Iran, heads to Tehran next week, where he will meet the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Washington says the shield - which includes placing a radar and interceptor missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic - is needed to protect against attack by "rogue" states, such as Iran and North Korea.

Mr Putin has proposed using a Russian-operated early warning radar in Azerbaijan, in exchange for Washington dropping the Polish and Czech sites. There was little sign today of any agreement over missile defence.

In opening remarks at the meeting with Mr Putin, however, Ms Rice said she was hopeful that the two-day talks could narrow differences.

"That which unites us in trying to deal with the threats of terrorism, of proliferation are much greater than the issues that divide us," she said.

"The president promised, and we are here to act upon the promise, that we would try and find ways to cooperate for the common good," she said, referring to a US commitment given earlier this year by George Bush.

Shortly before the talks with Mr Putin began, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, strolled into the dacha's billiards room, where US reporters had gathered for a cigarette break. He was asked whether he expected any breakthroughs in the talks. "Breaks, definitely. Through or down, I don't know," he said.